"In the U.S., it's being shown with one of President Thomas Jefferson's copies of "Cyropaedia," a book by Greek historian Xenophon about the philosophies of Cyrus, to illustrate how the Persian king inspired America's founding fathers."

Lsherm:I imagine it looks pretty cool. I could tell it look pretty cool if the link worked.

Works fine for me.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A nearly 2,600-year-old clay cylinder described as the world's first human rights declaration is being shown for the first time in the United States.The Cyrus Cylinder from ancient Babylon will be displayed beginning Saturday at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery. It will be in Washington through April 28, on loan from the British Museum. A yearlong U.S. tour will follow, with exhibitions planned in Houston, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.The cylinder carries an account, written in cuneiform, of how Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. and would allow freedom of worship and abolish forced labor. The account also confirms a story from the Bible's Old Testament, describing how Cyrus released people held captive to go back to their homes, including the Jews' return to Jerusalem to build the Temple.The cylinder was buried under a foundation wall of the city of Babylon. It's long been held as a model of good governance for a vast, multicultural society, and it made Cyrus famous from accounts in the Bible and writings by Greek authors. When the cylinder was discovered on a British expedition in modern-day Iraq in 1879, it was considered the first physical evidence of the biblical account."It's the first evidence we have of people reflecting on how you run a society of diversity, without just forcing uniformity," British Museum Director Neil MacGregor said. "The big question is: How can you manage a state that doesn't have one faith?"The museum pairs the football-size cylinder with other artifacts from Cyrus' era to show how the Persian empire grew to span many religions, languages and cultures, its borders stretching from China to Egypt and the Balkans. It includes seals showing the king's authority, Persian coins, and religious symbols in gold and silver.Also on view are two pieces of a flat tablet with matching words from the cylinder, showing it was published as a proclamation. The pieces were discovered in the British Museum's collection in 2009.The cylinder carries ongoing relevance in the world today, Sackler Gallery Director Julian Raby said. "Here is a document that in its time declared a new way of ruling ... in which diversity was respected within a culture," he said.When the cylinder was shown in 2010 and 2011 in Iran, it drew at least half a million visitors, showing that Iranians are still proud of the artifact as a central piece of their history, curators said. Before the current tour, it had been shown only in Tehran, Barcelona and London.In the U.S., it's being shown with one of President Thomas Jefferson's copies of "Cyropaedia," a book by Greek historian Xenophon about the philosophies of Cyrus, to illustrate how the Persian king inspired America's founding fathers.Curator John Curtis said the story of Cyrus also is a reminder of the rich history of the Middle East as a region of diverse cultures that included relations between Israel and Iran.Though the cylinder is a small object, it raises big political questions, MacGregor said. Both Europeans and Americans looked to the Cyrus model to manage a state with more than one faith."Only the Americans get to the Cyrus model of a state that's equidistant from every faith so that you acknowledge the value of faith, but you don't endorse any one variety," MacGregor said. "Of course, we're all trying now to live in cities and countries that have an unprecedented diversity in faith, language, ethnicity ... and this is the first model of someone who got it to work for several hundred years."

The interpretation of the Cylinder as a "charter of human rights" has been described by some historians as "rather anachronistic" and tendentious. It has been dismissed as a "misunderstanding" and characterized as political propaganda devised by the Pahlavi regime. The German historian Josef Wiesehöfer comments that the portrayal of Cyrus as a champion of human rights is as illusory as the image of the "humane and enlightened Shah of Persia." D. Fairchild Ruggles and Helaine Silverman describe the Shah's aim as being to legitimise the Iranian nation and his own regime, and to counter the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism by creating an alternative narrative rooted in the ancient Persian past.

Writing in the immediate aftermath of the Shah's anniversary commemorations, the British Museum's C.B.F. Walker comments that the "essential character of the Cyrus Cylinder [is not] a general declaration of human rights or religious toleration but simply a building inscription, in the Babylonian and Assyrian tradition, commemorating Cyrus's restoration of the city of Babylon and the worship of Marduk previously neglected by Nabonidus." Two professors with specialisms in the history of the ancient Near East, Bill T. Arnold and Piotr Michalowski, comment: "Generically, it belongs with other foundation deposit inscriptions; it is not an edict of any kind, nor does it provide any unusual human rights declaration as is sometimes claimed." Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones of the University of Edinburgh notes that "there is nothing in the text" that suggests the concept of human rights.

Probably worth noting "freedom of worship" meant people could go on to worship pagan gods like Moloch by burning their children alive as offerings. Babylon was so wrong to deny those people basic religious freedoms. Truly, toppling such religious oppression was a great moment for humanity.

J. Frank Parnell:Probably worth noting "freedom of worship" meant people could go on to worship pagan gods like Moloch by burning their children alive as offerings. Babylon was so wrong to deny those people basic religious freedoms. Truly, toppling such religious oppression was a great moment for humanity.

Here's the translation. Looks to me more like a king boasting about kicking out a crappy previous king, then installing new copper on everyone's doors, then finishing building a dock the crappy king left undone.

FTFA: "It's the first evidence we have of people reflecting on how you run a society of diversity, without just forcing uniformity," British Museum Director Neil MacGregor said. "The big question is: How can you manage a state that doesn't have one faith?"

Well, Neil, there's 2 schools of thought on this one. You can set up a secular government that will not only NOT try to force religious dogma down everybody's throats, or you can set up a Theocracy (declared or not) that will oppress all the other religious groups into going underground or leaving.

I think in the grand scheme of things, we could be doing alot worse than most of the world.

The problem being that our legislators read 1984 like it's a Goddamned instruction manual and are currently trying to mimic how more troubled nations treat their populaces. Its the nature of a politician to do what is easiest and personally profitable, and its easier to make a pile of restrictive laws and profit from it. Working through issues on human rights and foreign policy eats into the lobbying time.

Their real job, insuring the peoples freedom in light of all of the troubles it might cause, has proven too difficult for them.

I think in the grand scheme of things, we could be doing alot worse than most of the world.

The problem being that our legislators read 1984 like it's a Goddamned instruction manual and are currently trying to mimic how more troubled nations treat their populaces. Its the nature of a politician to do what is easiest and personally profitable, and its easier to make a pile of restrictive laws and profit from it. Working through issues on human rights and foreign policy eats into the lobbying time.

Their real job, insuring the peoples freedom in light of all of the troubles it might cause, has proven too difficult for them.

It would be helpful if people in general would stop voting for "Babyeater McSerialrapist" only because he has a D or R next to his name, gives lip service to their stance on abortion, or claims to follow the same religion they do.

unlikely:"In the U.S., it's being shown with one of President Thomas Jefferson's copies of "Cyropaedia," a book by Greek historian Xenophon about the philosophies of Cyrus, to illustrate how the Persian king inspired America's founding fathers."

Cool

That was the first full book we had to read for greek class.

Xenophon was always the most interesting of the classical greek writers to me. His books were all CSBs but they were pretty awesome CSBs..